Monthly Roundup: three momentous month-end developments! Is country-wide polarisation imminent?
(June 02 2008): Momentous month-end developments: As we go to press several momentous developments are taking place rather rapidly in the dying hours of the month. Denials notwithstanding, it seems Zardari did send a message to President Musharraf to quit by 10 June 08. A channel even reported that the house in the use of Brigadier Niaz in London is being readied to receive the ex-president.
If this happens Musharraf will have plenty of time to rue his decision to pass the NRO. Ironically, of the intended main beneficiaries of NRO, one is dead and the other may soon be in exile while the benefit passes on to Zardari. Musharraf will also have time to write a sequel to "In the line of fire". Imran Khan and Aitzaz Ahsan are opposed to giving "safe passage" to the beleaguered president. President's spokesmen continue to deny these developments.
Another important month-end development is coming on board the PPP ship of Manzoor Wattoo, one time Nawaz's friend and later his opponent, and a very shrewd and opportunistic politician, with patience to bide his time and grasp an opportunity at the right moment. The event was marked by a high profile function in which Zardari was profusely eulogised. With Wattoo expected to follow Salmaan Taseer in the thick of Punjab politics, portents are very strong that Zardari is laying the foundation of an eventual, PPP-led government in Punjab to the exclusion of ML(N).
A third month-end development is Zardari's decision to form a PPP lawyers group, since lawyers led by Aitzaz Ahsan, Ali Mohammad Kurd and Justice (r) Tariq Mahmood and others were proving to be bothersome for him in their pursuit of judiciary restoration to its 2 November 07 position.
The group was to be launched at month-end with PPP lawyers and workers emerging as a rival lawyers group. With ML(N) and APDM aiming to join the lawyers movement there are disturbing signs of country-wide political polarisation materialising.
Among other developments, it was only towards the end of the month that some details of the constitutional package being put together by Asif Zardari and his confidants started trickling through. For those who are anxious to have an independent judiciary, there are a number of poison pills in the package decoction which appear to be aimed at getting rid of the deposed CJP or making him ineffective and at the same time prolonging the tenure of the PCO CJP Dogar through features which are considered person specific. A number of sweeteners are included in the package to make it more palatable. Lawyers have taken a tougher stand than even ML(N) and towards the end of the month, Zardari promised to talk to them.
Another notable development towards the end of the month was that the joint onslaught against the President by both major political parties had unnerved him and there were strong rumours, soon after a 3-hour meeting he had with General Kayani, that he would soon leave his present residence in the GHQ area and move to the Presidency or even abdicate! Much of this was denied by Major General Rashid Qureshi, spokesman for the president.
However news that Senate Chairman Soomro is being called back from abroad is lending some credibility to the abdication rumour since the Senate Chairman officiates for President in the latter's absence.
There are hopeful signs of peace on our North West border as a result of negotiations in progress between the ANP government and the Taliban. America is increasingly uneasy about this development. Power continues to be wielded by people outside the parliament with the Prime Minister merely looking on.
The matter of alleged illegal movement of wheat by a minister in the Punjab cabinet and assault by him and his friends on food department officials trying to prevent this, appears to have been swept under the carpet despite registration of FIR. Another matter apparently swept under the carpet is Rahman Malik's alleged disgraceful role in the bye election postponement episode. Mr Malik is hiding from the media according to reports. So much for all the talk about accountability!
Negative remarks about CPO CJP Dogar have appeared in the media. At least one contempt notice has been moved. Will there be many more? In an interview Lieutenant General A. Qayyum (R), former chief of Pakistan Steel Mill has accused Shaukat Aziz of conduct unbecoming in the matter of the steel mill privatisation fiasco.
Government by proxy: There is an unreal air about governance in Pakistan today. The nominal and the actual centers of power are far apart and have been so since the elections. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani appears to be performing only ceremonial functions (while making grandiose statements which usually signify nothing) and does not seem to be involved in the decision making process of any of the major issues of the day. Neither is the parliament deliberating these issues.
Even the geography of politics is topsy turvy. Discussions to settle political matters have been taking place not in Islamabad but in far away Dubai and London. Do we ever hear of Indian or Bangladeshi or Sri Lankan politicians flying out of the country to meet and settle political issues? It seems Mr Zardari carries the seat of government with him wherever he goes.
Sitting on either side of his throne are non political people like Rehman Malik and Farooq Naek while Sherry Rehman chirps away the latest party line. The prime minister and the parliament are kept at a safe distance from all important matters.
Sindh has an ineffective chief minister, so important matters like inclusion of MQM in the government had to be handled by Asif Zardari and Rehman Malik. MQM's people in Karachi cannot take any major decision on their own since their chief sits in London and Asif Zardari and Malik Qayyum must make a bee line to London to settle matters concerning the party's relationship with the federal and provincial governments.
ML(N) is no better in this respect since the de facto chief minister waits to get a seat in the provincial assembly and the party chief Nawaz Sharif is still cooling his heels outside the national assembly. Ironically, the saving grace in the situation is provided by the governments of the two smallest provinces which appear to be not only fully preoccupied with governing in their spheres, but also in the case of NWFP, even beyond, as in negotiating with "militants" with remarkable success so far and in the case of Balochistan in taking bold steps to redress past wrongs.
Taking pot shots at the "deposed" CJP: Taking pot shots at "deposed" CJP Chaudhry Iftikhar is the name of the game for all those who do not believe in the independence of judiciary and, in fact, fear it in various degrees. Much is made of the oath taken by the CJP way back after the coup of 1999. Those doing this finger pointing conveniently ignore the vast difference in the political environment then and now.
He is also blamed, rightly or wrongly, for not acting favourably to Javed Hashmi's appeal, during his imprisonment, that he be allowed to attend the Parliament. Not to be left behind, Asif Zardari blamed him for not acting quickly on his bail plea. He is also blamed for allowing President Musharraf to stand for President even though he had put a ban on announcement of the result till the Supreme Court's decision in the matter. He was even blamed recently for having taken a stand only when he was "deposed" that is to say, for personal reasons. It is conveniently forgotten that if he had played along with Musharraf's plans, he would have been monetarily much better off than he could have been in his job. Remember, Musharraf had promised to "look after him" if he left quietly?
Can any of those who are taking such pot shots at the Chaudhry look back on their lives and claim that their own record of omissions and commissions was not much worse?
The "deposed" CJP's achievement was to stand firm when all chips appeared piled against him and the mighty and the powerful of the country were threatening him with dire consequences if he did not bow to their wishes. How many of those who are now busy, slinging mud at him can justifiably claim to have shown similar courage when threatened by powerful usurpers?
Lawyers' movement: Lawyers have come out with sights firmly set on accepting nothing less than the restoration of judiciary to its 2 November 07 position and total rejection of judges appointed under President Musharraf's 3 November 07 PCO. CJP Chaudhry Iftikhar was given full protocol by ML(N)'s Punjab government when he rode in style with a huge cavalcade from his Islamabad residence all the way to Faisalabad where he addressed a very large number of enthusiastic, slogan chanting lawyers. Workers and leaders of political parties, except apparently those of PPP, were present in large numbers to show solidarity with the cause espoused so doggedly and selflessly by an overwhelming number of lawyers.
Emotional speeches were made by Aitzaz Ahsan, Hamid Khan, Ali Ahmed Kurd and others during which there was much cheering and slogan raising. The CJP also made a strong speech and said that those who took oath under PCO on 3 November 07 were liable to be punished. Thus the lawyers' stand is to further "left" of ML(N)'s, which had grudgingly agreed to accept the PCO judges as ad hoc ones. This idealistic stance may prove a hindrance in the way of the lawyers' movement achieving its objectives as it creates another stakeholder group in the status quo. It may be useful, however, as a bargaining chip at some stage.
+A long march is planned from Multan to Islamabad for 10 June 08 in which almost all political parties are likely to participate in strength. The establishment on its part continues to implement its own plans - overt and covert - to neutralise the impact of lawyers' movement. A flurry of promotions to various judicial functions and announcements of increase in their emoluments and benefits is designed to create a class of beneficiaries of, and stakeholders in, the status quo. In panel discussions all sorts of objections are aired against what the lawyers stand for. The establishment has a history of using its largesse to "win friends and influence people" among the legal fraternity to use them in furtherance of its objectives.
Towards the end of the month Asif Zardari expressed his intention of discussing the judiciary issue with the lawyers. An Asif-Aitzaz dialogue should be very interesting indeed!
Roti, Kapra, Makan, down one step: Asif Zardari's politics may not be always guided by principles but it is certainly always interesting. He sought escape from the pressures generated by the popular movement for the restoration of judiciary by declaring with a straight face that people voted his party to power not for restoration of judiciary but for the good old roti, kapra, makan slogan!
Now that Zardari has come out hitting hard at Musharraf with a claim that he was under great pressure to rid the government of president Musharraf, he has downgraded the roti, kapra, makan to second place next to getting the president to quit. Poor judiciary then must be content with a third position by Zardari's reckoning. In retaliation Musharraf has come out with his own bogey: that he too is under great pressure in respect of the NRO he passed (of which, surprise, surprise, Zardari is the most prominent beneficiary)!
A lot of talk is in the air to the effect that poverty issue (roti, kapra, makan) is more important than restoration of judges and therefore the latter can wait. This is to create an impression that the two issues are competing for government attention. This is sheer nonsense since establishment of an independent judiciary will, in the long term, solve most of the problems faced by the country by establishing a fair and just system. In any case there was has never been any hindrance in the way of various ministries, other than the law ministry, to go about solving people's problems in their respective areas of responsibility.
Poison pills and sweeteners in the "Package": To many people the 62-point "Package" is a camouflage to hide an important intent namely preventing restoration of the judiciary to its 2 November 07 position with the horrid possibility of troublesome Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry resuming his mischievous actions like taking suo motu notice of abductions in the middle of the night by mysterious people, putting difficulties in the way of unlawful usurpation of power by the high and the mighty, creating difficulties in the way of those involved in shady financial deals and so on.
A number of "poison pills" in the package are said to be aimed at either preventing the "deposed" CJP from resuming his function or making him ineffective by limiting his powers or tenure or both.
The grand scheme appears to be to put a number of "sweeteners" in the package (like divesting the President of his powers to dissolve the parliament or to appoint army chief), which are in line with democratic norms and the wishes of the people of Pakistan as expressed through the elections of 20 February 08 so as to make it politically difficult for ML(N) to vote against the package.
Other sweeteners leaked out so far include killing the Kala Bagh Dam proposal and naming the NWFP as Pakhtoon Khwa. Some warnings have been aired against making the president too weak and the prime minister too strong since that may politicise institutions like the army. A fuller picture of the package may not be available for some more days now since much discussion is still taking place between the various stakeholders.
Peace in the Northwest within reach? It was left to a "secular" political party, the ANP, to make the first serious political moves towards settling the disastrous conflict on a very sensitive border. The conflict pitted our brave soldiers against our equally brave and patriotic citizens of the FATA tribal area who have been traditionally considered to be our first line of defence in the north-west.
Various attempts made in the past towards cessation of hostilities in this region ended in failure due primarily to American pressure. We have owned up Bush's war against ever widening swathes of Muslim populations as our own war just as we owned up the lethal air attack by American warplanes last year on Bajaur as carried out by ourselves!
We are taking money from the Americans to fight their war on our soil against our own citizens. Bush would like nothing better than to fight its wars in Afghanistan to the last drop of Muslim blood.
Predictably, America reacted cautiously at first to the recent peace efforts perhaps in a show of deference to the newly elected civilian government. But as time passed, America stiffened its opposition from "we have no objection" to "similar attempts have failed in the past" to "we have reservations" and now to downright opposition as expressed in so many words by Negroponte.
It is now being claimed that already as a result of the government talking to "militants", attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan have increased substantially and, more ominously, that the next attack on America will be launched from FATA! We should not be surprised if American agencies like the CIA get busy to sabotage the process by itself carrying out operations that would give the "militants" or "Taliban" or whatever one may call them a bad name instead.
American agencies can be subtle, extremely sophisticated and totally ruthless in furthering the hidden objectives of the American government without even the American people at large being aware of what those objectives were or how they were actually being achieved! Recent attacks from the air which killed several civilians including children are a warning from America not to proceed further in the matter.
Now a word about the Sharia Law, enforcement of which has been a consistent demand of the people of Swat and the surrounding areas, will be appropriate here. When Swat was traditionally ruled by a Vaali (ruler), justice was quick and cheap in criminal cases.
Later the British rulers replaced the code by a new one called Frontier Crime Regulation with which the people are unhappy because of long delays in getting decisions, with which fact of life all, Pakistanis are all too familiar. People now yearn for quick justice of the olden days. Happily, we appear to be close to agreement on this crucial issue as well. Enforcement of Sharia law is in line with Pakistan's Objectives Resolution but may need some constitutional amendments.
STEEL MILL PRIVATIZATION REVERBERATES:
It was an interesting "insider" interview that Lieutenant General (r) Abdul Qayyum, former chief of Pakistan Steel Mill, gave during a talk show in the last week of the month. Among other things he revealed, he traced the beginning of bad blood between Musharraf and CJP Chaudhry Iftikhar to the issue of privatisation of the Pakistan Steel Mill. The privatisation deal which was finalised by President Musharraf and then Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was cancelled by the Supreme Court under CJP Iftikhar.
This was a great blow to the government of the time, as the government was accused in the Supreme Court judgement of both acts of omission and commission. The Supreme Court was requested to review its judgement but the imposition of emergency left the matter pending. In Lieutenant General Abdul Qayyum's view an unfavourable decision of the appeal would have paved the way for a FIR against the relevant authority. Lieutenant General (r) AQ paid tribute to the CJP and other judges who were dealing with the case and accused Shaukat Aziz of asking him to favour the privatisation deal before the Supreme Court which "I refused to do".
The government was going to sell the whole project for Rs 21 billion although the cost of land alone on which the Steel Mill was situated was about Rs 40 billion! In the interview the Lieutenant General (r) also revealed that he was asked to pay fees of several million Rupees each to Barristers Wasim Sajjad and Abdul Hafeez Pirzada for fighting the case for privatisation whereas he had engaged the services of Barrister Kamal Azfar for the much smaller fee of Rs 7 lacs only. Will any one be held accountable if these allegations are proved to be correct?
No Sequels? Around mid month, a FIR had been lodged against a provincial minister of Punjab, belonging to ML(N), for attempting to illegally move food grain and more serious, attacking food department officials who tried to prevent the crime. A news channel had pursued the matter rigorously right up to the writing of the FIR inside the police station. Strong action was promised by the provincial government if any wrongdoing was proved. But to date we have heard nothing about it.
Mr Rahman Malik was caught on the wrong foot when he himself indirectly initiated action which resulted in postponement of the bye elections planned for 18 June but with a straight face, protested against the postponement after it was announced and pretended to have no knowledge about it. Those expressing surprise and disapproval included Mr Rahman Malik among a host of others. An investigation was promised but none materialised which meant a serious act of commission by an important member of the ruling party was brushed under the carpet.
Contempt notices:
When the "deposed" CJP rode to Faisalabad in a cavalcade to address the bar association there, the government of Punjab decided to give him the official CJP protocol. The Punjab Minister of Law declared that he recognised Chaudhry Iftikhar as the CJP. Not surprisingly, a notice was slapped on him asking him to appear in the court to answer the charges.
The fact is that the honourable Judge has been the target of direct and strong criticism by a number of people, including very senior retired Justices in TV programs broadcast across the country and abroad. If he decides to take action in respect of all those cases, we could soon see an impossible number of such cases in the country. (yawajid@yahoo.com)
Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]
